9-Year Sentence for Supplying Fatal Heroin Overdose

A 34-year-old Illinois woman has been sentenced to nine years in prison for supplying a deadly dose of heroin to a friend.

DuPage County prosecutors and the Wheaton Police Department announced the sentence Wednesday, along with a statement noting the "alarming rate of heroin overdose deaths."

A jury found Jennifer Nere of Summit guilty in early August of one count of felony drug-induced homicide. She'd been charged in the 2012 death of her friend, 31-year-old Augustina Taylor of Wheaton.

Prosecutors say Nere delivered heroin to Taylor at her home. Taylor's son later discovered her body. She died of a heroin overdose.

DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin says the case is "particularly disheartening" because the victim and the defendant were friends.